Tricks and treats

Amanda Redman tells Brian Courtis what she is copping from the unlikely lads in her new fun police drama series.

There are moments when actor
Amanda Redman simply wants to do her straight-faced Jane Tennison-best as
sharp-tongued cop DS Sandra Pullman.

Trouble is she has three old
villains making it a lot more difficult for her.

Well, not precisely
villains. Mischiefs, perhaps. Or, as one of them in character would
prefer, naughty boys. Naughty, experienced, peccant performers she now
delights to play with.

Redman, who excelled as the lotteryjuggling
Alison in At Home with the Braithwaites, is back tomorrow night
in the 90minute pilot episode of New Tricks, a BBC comedy-drama that will lead us
into a six-part Friday-night series.

Detective Superintendent Pullman
must suffer, it seems, for an embarrassing mishap.

During a police raid
to free a hostage she accidentally shot a dog - and her career in the
foot.

As a consequence, she has been asked to set up one of the more
peculiar police squads seen on TV. It involves dragging three experienced
detectives out of retirement to help her sort out unsolved cases.

The
three cunning old "dogs" she lands up with are played by first-class
actors who, of late, have not always been so lucky with their scripts. In
New Tricks, though, James Bolam,
Alun Armstrong and Dennis Waterman are all performing as they are best
remembered.

Not always, however, quite as the camera catches
them.

"They are forever making me laugh," says Redman. "And they're
very good at doing that while not laughing themselves, so it is always me
getting into trouble. Or, actually, James Bolam and myself. Alun Armstrong
and Dennis Waterman are the worst. Forever playing tricks. It's very funny."

Bolam plays Pullman's
former boss, a somewhat wistful widower; Armstrong is a brilliant,
troubled obsessive, almost an idiot savant; and Waterman is the ageing
lothario (one who in a rare attack of sensitivity notes, "I'm a naughty
boy; I'm not a bastard."

The scripts, bubbling along on the wit of
writer-creator Roy Mitchell, manage a clever balance between comedy and
pathos, with a Minder-style pace about the humour and action at
times. They speak against ageism, though, by demonstrating the strengths
of all generations.

Mostly, however, it looks like a show that everyone
involved is simply enjoying.

"It was fantastic fun, it really was,"
Redman says. "All four of us get on very well. That's rare.

I've been
lucky, really, because both with the Braithwaites and New
Tricks we've had happy members of the
cast - if that actually comes across on the screen then it is an added
stroke of good fortune."

Fortune has not always been so kind to Redman.
Either as a child or adult. When just 18 months old she tipped a pan of
soup over herself and was so badly burned and affected that at the
hospital she was initially pronounced clinically dead. The actress's left
arm is still badly scarred as a result.

Four years ago she also
revealed she had endured domestic violence in two relationships. In a film
made to mark an International Day Against Violence Towards Women she
described how a partner had tried to strangle her twice and how she was
kicked and beaten.

Today, in her early 40s, she is recognised as one of
Britain's most popular actors. Certainly one of its busiest. In
television, theatre and film, she has an impressive and lengthy CV.

And
a broad range of accomplishments.

This includes performances as Regan
in Sir Richard Eyre's production of King Lear for the Royal
National Theatre, a starring role as Diana Dors in the telemovie
Blonde Bombshell, and, alongside Ray Winstone, the gangster's
moll Deedee Dove in director Jonathan Glazer's colourfully titled film
Sexy Beast.

She was first asked to consider New Tricks three years ago. "I liked the
writing of the pilot and then, you know, I remember them saying, Well,
look, this is the idea we've got for the three old boys. My feeling was
that if they were successful with that, they had a surefire hit. As long
as the production values were good, it was fait accompli."

New Tricks became the BBCs best-performing
new drama series of 2004 in the UK, attracting 7 million viewers an
episode and a 30 per cent audience share. A second eight-part series is to
be made in August.

"The four of us felt very strongly that if we did go
again the scripts would have to be absolutely spot-on," she says. "There's
always a danger that scripts could become sloppy. All four of us feel that
if the scripts aren't up to scratch, then there's no point.

"And
they've been very good, taken this on board completely and involved the
four of us in the next series hugely with ideas and script
meetings."

Redman says that with the mischief on set came a deeper
relationship between the four.

The "boys" had become protective, which
she appreciated, and, curiously, this had later started to show through in
the actual storylines.

"For instance, as a woman I'm obviously longer
in makeup, which means I've needed to be there early every single morning.
At some point, they realised I was getting terribly tired. It was so
sweet; independently they went to the producer and said, tell you what,
why don't you put Amanda's scenes on at the end of the day and we'll come
up first tomorrow.

And that was terribly generous."

The generosity,
she said, was shared on the set. There was no rushing for close-ups or
lines. Redman says she had been surprised by the way they had worked so
well together. It made the series even more special. And now for the
second series, some of the UK's top character actors were showing great
interest, which she finds pleasing.

Not that Redman is resting on her
laurels.

She is currently making a BBC2 film called Back to My
Roots, a psychological drama that explores how your ancestors
influence the way you are today.

"I've been working on this one for a
while and will be finishing it at the end of July," she says. "I've
managed to get two weeks off and then it's into more New Tricks."

The pilot of New Tricks screens at 8.30pm tomorrow night on the
ABC. The six-part series follows at 8.30pm from the following
Friday.